A win for the community, a win for nature
At its meeting on 28 April Sutherland Shire Council resolved to no longer proceed with any proposal to rezone land from W1 Natural Waterways to W2 Recreational Waterways. This is a huge win for the community and for nature. The SSEC extends a huge thanks to everyone that was involved in this campaign. Your support for the open letter, emails to Councillors, letters to the Editor, attendance at Council meetings all had an impact, thank you.
Special thanks also to Tom Grosskopf of the SSEC and Iris Freeman from the Woronora Valley Community Association for so clearly articulating community concerns about this proposal at the Council meeting on the 28th. You can read Tom’s address to Council here, and Iris’ here.
Councillor Carmelo Pesce couldn’t bring himself to listen to your concerns and has now gained the support of seven other councillors to pursue an amendment to the LEP to allow “mooring pens” as a use permitted with consent within the W1 Natural Waterways zone across the Sutherland Shire.
This is not good news.
Mooring pens are a direct threat to sea grass meadows and an incursion of private property interests into crown lands.
The campaign now enters a new phase that will take some months to play out.
As we prepare for this phase of the campaign we are very aware that there is a real contest about the credibility of information. Councillor Pesce claimed at the Council meeting that there was considerable misinformation promoted in this campaign. He did so without citing any example, just a general slur on the campaign’s credibility. The SSEC stands by all of its statements and will defend any claim of misinformation.
We believe Councillor Pesce should also do his homework and reference credible sources when he makes claims about mooring pens and their impacts. He made three statements on the night that are worthy of a fact check:
- a mooring pen is just four poles, there is no walkway, walkways are not permitted. Incorrect, a mooring pen is four poles and to access the boat some form of walkway or platform is required, many design rules require these walkways/platforms to be light penetrating
- mooring pens need to be in 1.5 to 2 metres of water and sea grass does not grow at this depth. Incorrect, a key diagnostic characteristic of Posidonia australis is that it occurs in shallow sub-tidal coastal waters (<10m) in locations with protection from high wave energy. In every day speak; sea grass will occur where the water is permanent, is relatively calm and at depths where light can penetrate and in Port Hacking that is usually deeper than 2 metres.
- swing moorings block navigation areas. Incorrect, it is a requirement of Transport for NSW that all water based developments seek navigation safety advice. These developments must not interfere with navigation.
Thank you for your support so far. Your ongoing support will be needed over the coming months. We will keep you informed and reach out to you when your voice will once again shape the future of the Shire when we speak up and say enough is enough.
